Strawberry moon: Sixth full Moon of 2019 visible for alongside Jupiter starting 17 June

A full moon is due to take place on 17 June, Monday — the sixth full moon in 2019 that is expected to peak everywhere on Earth at the same local time. This full Moon, called the Strawberry Moon, gets its name from the Algonquin tribes in North America, who harvested wild berries at exactly this time in the year. The name was adopted by the colonial Europeans from the tribes. There are other old myths surrounding the Strawberry moon. Europeans also call this moon a Mead Moon or the Honey Moon. Mead is a drink that is made by fermenting honey that has been mixed with water, fruits, grains or spices. [caption id=“attachment_6825931” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] Strawberry Moon. Image credit: Flickr[/caption] June was usually the time for marriages in Europe, which made the “Honey Moon” literally significant. The Moon also gets its name from the fact that honey was harvested during this time of the moon. And if these two names weren’t enough, there’s another name, again, given to the Moon by the Europeans. They called the full Moon that appeared at this time the ‘Rose Moon’. This might have been due to the colour of the moon. The reason the moon would get a reddish tinge is that the orbit of the Moon around the Earth is almost in the same plane as the orbit of the Earth around the Sun – only about five degrees off. When the Sun appears highest in the sky near the summer solstice, the Full Moon opposite the Sun generally appears lowest in the sky. The Strawberry Moon will begin at 2 pm IST on 17 June, Monday for about three full days around the same time, from Sunday night to Tuesday evening,  according to Gordon Johnston at NASA. In a coincidence, observers will also be able to see the planet Jupiter shine during the full Moon till 4 pm IST on 18 June, Tuesday. The seventh full moon of the year, 16 July will be the Buck Moon.